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Description: The New New Southern Basics is an updated expansion of restaurateur Martha Stamps's critically acclaimed New Southern Basics, published in 1997. "This is the food that has found its way to the hottest restaurants in New York and Los Angeles, but which tastes even better at home," Stamps writes. It is "worth taking a little time and giving a little effort, for your friends, your family, your own satisfaction."

According to Stamps, Southern cooking was once an act of art and love -- all at the same time. But as women in the South joined the workforce in ever-increasing numbers in the mid-twentieth century, their lives became so busy that eating became an inconvenience and cooking a chore. Anything that could make the job of feeding one's family more convenient was adopted, and what Stamps calls "an abomination of honest Southern cooking" took place. Instead of preparing meals with the care that had marked authentic cooking for decades, Southerners took to instant meals, frozen foods, and microwaves as the staples of "cooking." These "abominations" replaced the knowledge and techniques that previous generations had employed for decades.

The New New Southern Basics reaches back to a time when Southern cooks took the time to do things right. In doing this, Stamps recreates the basic Southern foods in ways that accommodate the tastes and nutritional concerns of our time. She exalts the use of fresh ingredients and cooking from scratch, noting that this is more than a matter of style. Her southern basics taste better and are much more valuable nutritionally and economically.